Dreamer
Disclaimer This story is rated PG-13 for language and suggestive themes. I don't anything from PJO or tHoO. Danke! :) Note: Everything is in Cassie's POV unless stated differently. Chapter One: Bad News I had made my first mistake when I laughed at Marco when he told me that I was a demigod. And that my two best friends, Sara and Laia, were demigods also. I could not believe it. So I laughed and walked away, then told my friends during art class, where we just talk and don't actually do anything. We all had a good laugh about it, but then there was this silence after, when we all were considering the possibilities of it being true. We looked at each other and then Laia and I stared at Sara, whom we often went to for problem solving advice. Sara always had the answers to everything, and was always so logical. I studied my friend closely. She dyed her naturally blond hair into a nice reddish-brown color. It was pulled back into a bun with silver bobby pins holding back her bangs. Her clothes, like her personality, were all business. Purple layered shirts, a few black necklaces, a short-ish purple pleated skirt, purple-grey tights, and black, small heels. Her gray eyes were cloudy as she thought it over. "Well," she said after another minute of thinking, " it's possible, but I'm not sure. I mean, when he talked to me earlier-" "He talked to you and you didn't tell me?!" I asked, sounding betrayed and shocked. She sighed. "Yes, he talked to me, but I was going to tell you guys after you finished, but obviously we had the same news." I nodded sheepishly and told her to continue. "As I was saying, Marco came up to me earlier and said that I was a demigod and I didn't believe him at first, but now I'm seriously considering it. I mean, I've never really felt normal." "He hasn't talked to me yet!" Laia complained with this little pouty face. She thought that she and Marco had this little romance going on, and she was actually dissapointed when he went to other people before her. Which, I can understand why he goes to other people, because Laia is a little nutty. I examined my other friend. Her blonde hair was in a bun with blue chopsticks through it. She has a shirt saying "HAPPY GIRLIE" on the bottom, with a winking face above it. A large heart pendant on a necklace made a nose for the face. She had matching heart earrings on. She was wearing a sparkly blue skirt, and matching blue fishnet tights. Her white ballet flats had two different shapes on each toe. I think one was an orange butterfly, but who knows? I shrugged. The teacher was walking around to see what we were working on, so I quickly went over to the desk and grabbed a box of colored pencils and a few pieces of paper. I stopped in front of the full body mirror next to the desk to see how I was looking. Today I'm wearing a pair of jeans with what looks like a tiger-dragon-thing flying across the legs. I'm wearing a blue-green no-name band's t-shirt with a brown fur-lined hoodie pulled over. My blonde hair falls to my shoulders and my bangs are pulled back and pinned on my head with a fake blue flower. I had on feather earrings that were kind of hard to see against my hair. My beat up blue sneakers were the least attractive part of my outfit, but if you ask my mom, it would be my gold eyebrow ring (which I had begged her to let me get since I was eight and she finally gave in for my 13th birthday). "So why hasn't he told me that I'm a demigod? Marco is so in trouble!" Laia she pouted. Then, as if on cue, Marco walked down the hallway, looking anxious and scared. "There you are! I thought something terrible might have happened to you guys! Oh, and Laia, I've been meaning to talk to you about something," he pauses and looks at Sara and me. "But they might've beat me to it. Uh, but I have the feeling that you've been filled in, you're the daughter of Greek god or goddess. Sorry for not telling you sooner, but..." "But what?" Laia demanded. "Well- I, uh.. It's just that.." Marco stuttered. I knew he wasn't a big talker, and being put on the spot like this must've been like torture to him. I cleared my throat to let them know that we were still there. "Sorry.." he muttered, turning red. "So, uh, what now?" I asked him. "Well on to Camp Half Blood, of course!" He said with much more cheer than usual. Marco is more of the sulky silent type, you see. Another wierd thing about him, I've never seen him in shorts. I also have never been to his house. Which is especially odd, considering the four of us are really close friends. "Ms. Jackson?" Mr. Liams, our homeroom teacher called from the end of the hallway. Our heads turned at the same time to look at him. Me. He was talking to me. Duh, I'm Cassie Jackson (A/N: No relation to Percy Jackson!) "Yes?" I asked, walking towards him. "You have a phone call in the office from- uh, just come with me." "Um... okay...?" I waved good-bye to my still confused friends and walked to the school office. The secratary gave me a pitying look as she handed me the phone. "H-hello?" I said into the phone. "Miss Cassandra Jackson?" A deep voice asked. "Yeah. Who is this?" "I'm Detective Edwin Gallager. Your mother has been kidnapped. Your neighbor, Mr. Deloria, went into your apartment and found a letter. I'll explain more when you get here." I blinked. I dropped the phone on the desk, pushed Mr. Liams out of my way and ran out of the office, to the door. I then ran out of the building. Ran like all heck had come lose. Becuase in my world, it has. (A/N: Think this is too dramatic? Maybe she should be killed instead of kidnapped or person-napped.... whatever....?) Chapter Two: Bad Cop, Good Cop (I wish) Detective Gallager, or Ed, as he had told me to call him, said that he would do his best to find my mother. There was only one trace of the er, person snatcher. A note. it read, Cassandra Jackson, You must come to San Fransico. Your mother is there, safe. If you don't come, I can guarantee that she won't be so safe. Someone will guide you there safely. Be packed and ready. Your mother's kidnapper. "San Fransico? What the heck?!" I exclaimed as I read the letter. "When will the person come? Who is the person? Where? And who the heck sent this?" "All questions we are meaning to answer, Ms. Jackson. Keep a close eye out on everyone and everything. We'll have an officer tailing you. But, trust me, you won't even know he's there. He'll make sure you're safe at all times. Don't worry," he said with a sincere smile. I nodded but didn't look at him. "And Cassie, it'd be better if you kept the word down about this. I want it to be quiet. And quick. No one has to know." I had a feeling that he wasn't talking about finding my mom anymore. I was right. His hand was reaching behind my neck, reaching around it. I felt his hand tightening around my throat. Tighter and tighter, still. Constricting my throat, cutting off my air supply. Choking me. I reached out and grabbed a random letter opener off the desk in front of us and stabbed him in the arm before he could even flinch. His grasp on my neck broke for a split second, but that was enough for me to get the heck out of there. I ran out of the apartment as fast as I possibly could. Ed- whatever he was- was right behind me the entire time. And I run pretty dang fast. I saw the door for the stairs and pushed it open. One flight of stairs down. I could feel the air whoosh past as he makes a grab to take me down. Two flights of stairs. I looked back at him as I ran down another flight of stairs. Where I stabbed him, there was no flesh wound or blood stains. Just a cut in his shirt. Bullet proof coat? I didn't think so... Totally not human. Did it really take me that long to figure that out? Wow... My thoughts were slowing me down. I could feel his hands- no, check that, they were claws now- almost getting a grasp on my hair. I ran faster just as he almost took a chunk out of my scalp. I went down the last flight of stairs and pushed open the exit door and slammed it in Ed's face..... Oh, wait. Now Ed's a she. Edwina..... And she looks hungry. I ran and ran until I got into a local park. A local deserted park. In a deserted part of town. I just have no luck today. I looked behind me to see that Edwina wasn't following me. Whew! And then I turned back around, still running, and saw a black t-shirt. Then I saw the sky. "Ow..." I said looking at my hand. My left hand had a gash in it, and it was bleeding badly. I looked up to see how I got the cut and- oh. He was holding a sword. Of course. And now that I saw him... he was cute. He had black, shaggy hair, olive skin and dark brown eyes, and he was about as tall as me. "Hi. Sorry about the hand... I'm Nico." I blinked and passed out from the pain. Chapter Three: I Search for an Unconscious Girl's Shoe Nico's POV I stared at this girl who I had just ran into. She was being chased by a Lamia, a child eating monster. From where my sword, er, ran into her hand had a big, bleeding gash. I winced in pain just looking at it. I picked her up and carried her to a bench in the park. No one was around, as it was a deserted area after a freak fire incident burned most of it up. Except this park. I didn't really know why, but I was roaming around Minnesota in a deserted neighborhood. I felt drawn here for some reason. At first, I thought it was because of the dead presence in the area. Then I thought it was the monster, but that wasn't it either... But now I know it's becuase of this girl. She has shoulder length blond hair, which was really messed up from all the running, with a big, fake blue flower holding part of it back. She had a brown fur hoodie and a pair of patterned jeans on. She had lost one of her battered blue sneakers somewhere along the way. It looked about half a mile away from her apartment building. Dang, I thought, this girl is fast! And pretty, too... a part of me thought. Whoa, whoa, whoa! Am I really thinking that some girl that I met ten seconds ago is pretty? Whatever, I have better things to worry about. Like... like... like finding her shoe! Yeah... Finding her shoe. Hades, I'm such an idiot. Here she is unconscious with a bleeding hand, and all I can think about is finding her shoe. And how pretty she is.... Hades dammit! No! Let's just get her some Ambrosia or something.... At least I think I should. Most likely she's a demigod... Well, at the moment I have no other options. I tore off a part of one of my many black t-shirts and wrapped it around her hand. I took out a canister of nectar and drizzled some in her mouth. She swallowed and showed less of a pained expression on her face. Whew! It worked, she didn't burn to a crisp! She looked cute when she didn't look in so much pain. Jeez, I couldn't be around her without all these... warm, fuzzy feelings in me. So I sulked away looking for her shoe. Yeah, that's the best thing I could think of to do. It was a big issue in my mind.... I scanned the area and saw the Lamia, with her back to me, sniffing her shoe. Gross. I took out my sword and snuck up on her. I sliced her in half and turned into golden dust, catching the shoe as it fell. I scanned the area once again, and had the feeling of being watched. I ignored it and walked back to the park. And after much consideration, I slipped the shoe back on her rainbow toe sock clad foot. It looked like she was smiling now and opened one eye a little. "Thanks," she said, barely above a whisper. Just one word made my heart thump so hard in my chest, I was afraid it was going to pop out and flop around in the grass. I couldn't talk either. I just slightly nodded with a confused expression on my face. She tried to get up, but I lightly pushed her back down. The feel of the skin on her hand sent jolts up my spine as if Zeus had hit me with his Master Bolt. I looked into her eyes and knew something was different about this girl. Hades help me! Cassie's POV While unconscious, I had one of my many strange dreams. This time, I was in a stone chamber, or whatever you would call it. Anyway, there were two men arguing, one was wearing a black suit- scratch that, a tux, and one wearing a robe. The guy in the tux had a bunch of scars all over his face. Ow. And the guy in the robe, I couldn't even see his face! It changed from face to face to face. I got so sleepy. Well, if you can get sleepy in a dream. I finally got past their outfits, and moved on to what they were talking about. They were still arguing. Jeez, can't we all just get along? According to the screams of those two, I'm guessing not. Oh well, a girl can dream. "- coming back soon! Pick your side!" Tux guy said. "Promentheus, leave me be! No wonder Zeus fed you to the vulture!" Robe man replied. Tux guy/Promenteus touched his scars. "Don't bring that up! And- and- and-," Promentheus stuttered for a comeback. "I hope you choose the wrong side, as you probably will considering your wits!" ....... Burn...... Tux guy disappeared in flames, leaving Robe man and his many faces to fume in the stone chamber. That was the end of my dream, as reality called me back. My hand still stung, but wasn't as bad. I opened one eye and looked at that boy, Nico. I smiled a little, trying to hide my pain. "Thanks," I said as loud as I could, even though it only came out a whisper. He nodded, but looked scared and confused, as if that lady came back and was about to eat my head. I really hope that wasn't it. I sorta tried to get back up, half because I wanted to see Nico closer up, half because I wanted to make sure my head was safe. He lightly pushed me back down, and then he looked, like, totally freaked out. We locked eyes and I felt, and probably looked like what he did. This guy was not an average kid. He found my shoe... the ADHD part of me thought. I could not dream myself out of this. Chapter Four: Someone To Count On Nico and I pretty much stared at each other for about three minutes. Okay, I'm exaggerating a little bit, maybe thirty seconds tops. He didn't seem to be able to say anything, so I guess it was up to me. I'm used to being around two really loud people, so I was always the withdrawn quiet one. I took a deep breath and managed a quiet hello. He just stared at me like I had just spontaneously started speaking French. He shook his head, apparently trying to snap out of it. "Um, hi. I'm Nico..." he paused looking for some words. "I found your shoe." Then he looked really embarrased and blushed as he apologized. "And I can't believe I just said that," he muttered. "Sorry. That was stupid." I smiled politely. "Aw, it's not so bad. I've heard worse. And, um, I'm Cassie." Did I really just say that? "But, uh, thanks for fixing my hand, and for finding my shoe. How did you do that, anyway?" I tried to make up for what I said before. He smiled. "Well, I walked over to that grass over there, and looked on the ground and boom! There was your shoe. Oh! You mean your hand?" he asked with playful sarcasm. "That's for me to know and for you to... possibly find out later." Then I finally realized that I was still laying on the bench and that he was standing over me. "Um, can I sit up now?" I asked. He seemed to just notice that he was standing over me, too. "Um, how's your hand feeling?" He asked with concern. "Fine. Now about the sitting up thing?" "If your hand's feeling fine, then yeah." Then he helped me sit up and I surveyed my surroundings. There was a swingset, a slide, and other stuff you might find in a regular playground. Then I looked past the playground and saw a few charred, black building frames. Then I looked at Nico. He was wearing a World War Two aviator's jacket, black torn-up jeans and a plain black t-shirt. His shirt had a rip in it where a piece was missing. I looked at my hand and put two and two together, then realized that he ripped his shirt to help me. He must've known what I was thinking about because he said, "It's no big deal. I have a lot of t-shirts. You needed it more than I did." He blushed. And just seeing him blush made me blush, so I looked away. A breeze swept through the deserted neighborhood, sending ashes towards the playground. The fall leaves rustled, just a reminder of the soon-to-be winter. I shivered, just noticing the gashes in my jacket. "You're freezing!" he said. "Where do you live? I'll take you home so there's no chance of you getting eaten again." He smiled, but concern showed in his dark brown eyes. "Um, over there." I pointed to my apartment building which was a long distance away. I never knew I could run that fast. "But Ed- I mean, that thing tried to eat me while I was in there." I just realized with some shock that now there was no one helping to find my mother. I frowned, and my eyes started to water, but I blinked them back. "Oh, don't worry! Getting eaten happens to me all the time!" He tried to cheer me up, but I guess he didn't really know what was making me sad. "I'll walk you home, and those monsters will never get you!" He smiled confidently. "Um, no that's-" I sighed. "Yeah. That sounds good." I stood up, as did Nico and we walked back together to my apartment in silence. Along the way, I noticed Ed's fake badge and a strange amount of golden dust. I just shook my head and kept walking. After about five minutes of walking, we reached my apartment. "Um, well this is it. Thanks for everything. Hey, do you wanna come in?" "Um, I'd better not. But I have a strong feeling I'll be seeing you again pretty soon," Nico said mysteriously. He smiled again. Did I mention that he had a nice smile? Well, he does. "Oookay," I drew out the 'O' to show my confusion. "I guess I have to trust you on that. See you pretty soon, apparently. Bye, Nico." And I gave him one of my rare, stellar smiles which make the sun seem dull- or, at least so I'm told. He just stared at me, then realized that he was and nodded quickly. "See ya around, Cassie." He said after what seemed like eternity of us just looking at each other. And then he just walked off with out a second glance behind him. I waited till he was out of sight before I walked into my apartment building, went up the five flights of stairs day dreaming about kicking Edwina's butt. I unlocked my apartment's door and walked into my room. It was already dark, and I looked at my alarm clock. 7:00, it read. This was waaay earlier than I usually sleep, but I'm so tired.... I took off my jacket and kicked off my shoes. I plopped down on my bed and pulled the covers up to my chin. I finally let the tears fall, and soon enough, I was sobbing. I said under my breath with every sob, "Please, mommy. Please come back. Mommy, I love you. Please come back." I prayed to whoever listens to prayers to find my mom. I cried myself to sleep. Chapter Five: Captin Crunch with a Side of Interrogation "Ugh," I said in reply to the annoying beep of the alarm clock next to my head. "Caaaaaaassie!" I heard a familiar sing songy voice call. I grumbled a few unhearable curses at the person. "Cas, we're gonna be late! Get up now!" Another familiar voice called. A blanket was ripped off of me, practically throwing me out of bed. I looked up sleepily to see Sara and Laia looking down at me. "Wha- I don't- who- ugh." "Listen, I don't know what's going on with you, or why you ditched school yesterday, but come on, you need to get up! We have to meet Marco.... about that camp," Sara told me. I got up grogily and looked at my friends. I knew they wouldn't understand what I was going through. I know this is wrong and all, but I didn't really want to tell them. "By the way, where's your mom?" Laia asked. It felt like a stab to my stomach. "That's why I ditched school," I turned away from them and tried to blink back my tears. "Whatever, you guys just go help yourself to breakfast, and I'll change. Be right out." I just couldn't see people right now. My friends walked out looking at each other with confused looks, then closed the door so they could probably talk about me. I didn't want to cry again, so I just quickly put on black Aeropostale sweatpants and a Harry Potter t-shirt. After thirty seconds of searcing I found matching socks, then pulled on my grey fake UGGs. I put on mascara, and a little cover up. I fixed my hair in the mirror a little bit, but gave up and put it in a ponytail. I opened the door and walked down the few stairs to the kitchen slash dining room. Laia and Sara were helping themselves to bowls of Captin Crunch. I grabbed a glass bowl and a spoon then sat across from them. I knew this breakfast was an interrogation breakfast. My least favorite. Sara and Laia were crunching on cereal, staring at me, waiting for an explanation. "Well? Why'd you ditch?" Laia asked, being blunt and to the point. "You said something about your mom." I nodded, pouring the milk for my cereal. I decided to just be straight foward with them, instead of hiding things for any longer. I mean, isn't that what friends are for? "My mother was kidnapped. It was a detective on the phone calling me. I met him later, but he turned out to be a people-eating she, and some boy in Death Park," that was their nickname for the deserted park, by the way, "killed it. He brought me home, and here we are." Their mouths went agape. I'm pretty sure a piece of cereal fell out of Laia's mouth. I ate another spoonfull of cereal waiting for them to say something. "S-seriously?" Sara asked. For once in her life she was surprised, because she didn't expect this at all. I nodded causually, as if they were asking me if I had seen the newest episode of Degrassi or something. "No note from the kidnapper? Nothing?" she continued interogatting me. "Nope, nothing." I realized that I lied. I'm a big hypocrite. I know. The lies just floated out of my lips. I'm a deliquent teenager.... what do you expect? Sara didn't seem to be buying it, but she didn't say anything. "So what're we going to do about it?" "You aren't going to be doing anything. I'm going to San Fransico." "San Fransico?" Laia finally said. I nodded. "Yup. San Fran. It's where my mom is." Oh, crap............ "And how would you know that?" Sara asked, quickly catching onto my screw up. "Intuition." I lied again. "I am a daughter of a god, aren't I? I'm smart! By the way, I'm calling in sick for school for the next week or so." Sara and Laia exchanged looks. I had never acted like this before. "We're coming with you," they said. "Wha- No! You guys go to that camp-thingy, I'll be fine on my own." They opened their mouths to argue, but were interuppted by a loud pouding on the door. I raised an eyebrow at them, and turned to the door. "Who is it?" I yelled. "A friend!" a familiar voice called from the other side of the door. "Friends!" came another. I shrugged, being too lazy to open the door myself yelling, "It's open! If you want to kill me, take a number!" Marco and Nico walked in the apartment. Marco was sulky as usual, quick to sit down on the couch in front of the TV blaring Spongebob Squarepants. Nico winked at me, with a smile. He winked at me. And then smiled. I smiled back. Thank God I can do something right. Chapter Six: Rapist Sighted in Playground! Back to you, Ted! So, reporting back to you live, ten minutes later. I'm your host, Cassie Jackson. Since you left us, things have broken into a complete rampage! Okay, okay, I'll stop talking like that.. But seriously, things went crazy. Here's what happened: "Cassie's going to San Fransico!" Laia yelled. I glared at her. "Seriously?" I yelled back. "You had to do that?" Marco intervened quickly before we could get a good cat fight started. "San Fransico?! You can't go there!" he yelled at me. Nico also gave me an accusing glare. Oh dear God, why me? I put my head in my hands and tried to tune them out. "Cassie, what were you thinking?!" Marco yelled. "I told her it was a bad idea!" Laia chimed in, rather loudly, I might add. "Bad, bad, bad idea!" Sara nagged. "San Fran's no good, Cassie," Nico said, the quietest of all the people yelling at me. And so on and so forth, just them trying to burrow their yellings into my head. I couldn't take it any more! Too much nagging! They don't know what I'm going through! They don't know, they'll never know! I picked up my glass cereal bowl, still half filled, and threw it at the wall. The bowl shattered, removing tiny flecks of yellow paint. Captin Crunch slid down the wall as they all stared at me like I was some kind of exotic animal in a cage. I didn't say a word. I walked past all of them, grabbed a purple American Eagle hoodie and my messenger bag, always hanging on the coat rack since my mom made me fill it with survival neccecities. I finally knew why she told me I needed it. I opened the door and headed for the stairs, not hearing anyone following me. Finally some peace and quiet. I was on the ground floor, and opened the door to go outside, the same one where I'd been chased just hours before. Funny, it could've been days, weeks or even years. I headed out the doors and walked over to the abandoned playground again. I just felt drawn there, like some cosmic energy was calling me to my destiny, or something like that. (A/N: Did I mention I was high when I wrote this? I've been smoking a bit too much AWESOMENESS!!! lol XD jk... I don't smoke) ' I reached the playground after five minutes of walking, still not hearing or seeing if anyone of my friends followed me. I sat down on one of the swings, it creaking and dropping ashes and rust as I sat down. Great. Now my sucky hair-do was ruined! "Cassie? Cassie! You here?" a particularly familiar male voiced called. Nico. I noticed a nice little clump of metal from part of the playground. I picked it up, prepared to use my fast-action plan that I thought up in second grade. I turned quickly, threw the metal clump, yelled, "Leave me alone! I'm busy right now!" and then ran for the life of me. Yeah... I wasn't exactly a clever second grader. I, unfortunatly, didn't hear a clunk as the metal hit his head. Instead he was yelling my name, come back, and all that jazz. I kept running. And then, you know, me being me, tripped. And fell. Then faceplanted. In the ground. Painfully. Then I stood up, acting like nothing happened, and kept running. This display of pure lack of uncoordination gave him time to catch up. He tackled me. Yeah. I blushed. But then realized that I wasn't going down without a fight. "HELP ME! RAPIST! MOLESTOR! HEEELP MEEE! GET OFF OF ME, YOU RAPIST! SOMEONE CALL 9-1-1! POLICE! PO-" that was when he covered my mouth with his hand. "Shut up, would you?" he asked, smiling. Then I, being in second grade mode except with a larger vocabulary, licked his hand. He snapped his hand back quickly and shouted something that sounded like, "ACKDLJKJKREKFJKDJFLDJFDKAFFJEICAKSLDF!" but was really, "ACKWHATTHEHADESHWASTHATFORI'MTRYINGTOHELPYOUEWEWEW!" '(A/N: If you still didn't get it, it actually says, "ACK WHAT THE HADES WAS THAT FOR I'M TRYING TO HELP YOU EW EW EW!" XD) I then kicked him off of me and continued to run- er, tried to at least. He grabbed my wrist with the non-spit covered hand. How thoughtful. Then he pulled and I feel into his waiting arms. Romantic, right? Wrong. I fell on top of him oh-so gracefully, and that was where I drew the line. I stood up, but didn't run. He looked relieved. Probably because now he didn't have to chase me, or try out his new karate flip on me. He smiled at me again. I didn't smile back. Hey, look! I did something right again! Chapter Seven: If You're Going... To San Franciso I was soon hauled back to my apartment, where an angry Marco, a frustrated Laia and an angry and frustrated Sara waited for me. "What, in all of hell, were you thinking? Running away? And to San Francisco? It's the middle of winter, and you're wearing a hoodie, for God's sake!" Sara scolded. "How far did you think you'd get? Thank God Nico was here to save you! You could've died! Or been kidnapped!" "The only kidnappers out here," I muttered, "are you guys. So get off my case, okay? You don't understand what I'm going through. I'm going to get my mom, whether you like it or not!" "Cassie.." Marco warned. "No!" I screamed. "I'm not going to your stupid camp! You don't have to come with me to San Francisco, in fact, I don't want you to go with me at all! I'm going alone, and that's final! Now get out of my apartment and leave me alone!" Marco blinked, obviously stunned. Sara gaped at me, her jaw dropped. Nico's face was blank, but his eyes showed he was impressed. Laia sniffled, about to cry. I sighed. I stepped out of the way and pointed to the door. My expression was deadly serious. I blinked, still pointing to the door. Sara led the way out, staring at me with a disappointed and slightly confused look, but keeping her head held high as always. Laia followed, giving me a pitiful "I'm so sorry" look. I kept my stony look, waiting for the boys to leave. Nico shrugged, and followed. He paused by me and said, "Think about it. I don't like it there, either, but they can help you," then walked out. Marco remained. He walked up to the door, and closed. He turned back to me, leaning against the door. "Listen, Cassie," he said, sounding much older than he looked. "I know you want to find your mom and all, but you're not trained. They're could be monsters or something! Do you know that you could die? 'Cause it's possible. And then your mom will never be saved. Just, please, come for a day, a week, anything. I don't want you to die. Think about it. I'll be back tomorrow." He then gave me a small smile, opened the door, and jogged after the others. I stood by the door a few minutes, mulling it over. Then, I walked over to the computer. I went to Google and hesitated before searching. Prices for bus tickets to San Fran from St. Paul's Minnesota "Sorry, Marco," I muttered. "I won't be here tomorrow." Chapter Eight: And Hide Your Husbands.... Five am. Bag over my shoulder. Ticket in hand. Realizing that this bus station that smells like pee. Ugh. There's about ten other people here. Two older people, commuters. One family- an exasperated mother and father, two babies, one toddler, and twins, about 5 or 6 years-old- probably on vacation. But there's one guy about my age. His jeans are dirty, though not ripped, and his sneakers are covered in mud as well. He's wearing a purple t- shirt, with a black zip-up hoodie over. The hood is up, so I can't see his face. Though I'm fairly sure he's been staring at me. The bus pulled up, five minutes late. We walked on. I chose a window seat, four rows back. Hoodie boy sat one row in back of me, on the other side, in the aisle seat. The bus smelled even worse than the station. And I have to ride five- how many? I'll say it again: five different buses. St. Paul, MN to Pierre, SD, to Casper, WY, then to Salt Lake City, UT, then Carson City, NV, and finally to San Fransico, CA. I'll be traveling all day. Hopefully some buses will smell better. One of the twins cried, "Mommy! This bus smells icky!" One of the babies wailed in agreement. The mom sighed, and tried to quiet the children, but that only made the other twin start crying. The commuters were yacking on their phones. I couldn't take it anymore. I opened my messenger bag, and took out my iPod. It was a Third Generation iPod Nano, that I got on eBay. It was all my mom could afford. I turned it on, and flipped to my favorite song, Tonight, by FM Static.I cranked the volume, and played it on repeat. It was my favorite song before this, but now it's starting to become true. I could feel Hoodie guy staring again. I started to think of the Bed Intruder song. The Bus Intruder. Heh. He's climbin' up the bus stairs He's snatchin' your people up So y'all need to Hide ya kids hide ya wives hide ya kids hide ya wives hide ya kids hide ya wives Okay, okay, I'll quit being weird now. But still. He's a friggin' Bus Intruder. Fo' real. Run and tell that homeboy. Bad, Cassie. Calm. He should really quit staring, though. It's creeping me out. I tried to ignore him. I yawned, and attempted to take a nap with Tonight playing. I succeeded. ~Two hours Later~ I yawned and stretched, just waking up. We were just pulling into the next station. I turned off my iPod, stuffed it into my bag and left with the rest of the people. This bus station smelled a bit better, at least. The loud family was getting into a large van with an old, fat man driving. The commuters were walking down the street to their jobs, I suppose. That left Bus Intruder and me. The time ticked by. The next bus was supposed to be here at seven thirty am. It was seven fifteen. (A/N: Just for the record, I've never been to a bus station, let alone ridden on a public bus. So, I don't even know if there are big indoor bus stations or if there are only those plastic things on the side of the road. Sorry if I got it wrong.. >_<;;) It was another minute or so before I had to pee. I looked around nonchalantly, looking for the restrooms. I found the sign, and walked towards it. Bus Intruder didn't follow. Thank God. I walked into the restrooms- they weren't that bad, I suppose. I did my business, then washed my hands. "Holy sh-" "Shhhh!" And who could that be? Well, you don't have to hide ya kids or hide ya wives, that's for sure. Chapter Nine: It's in My Genes! "What the hell are you doing in the sink?" I demanded. It was Marco. But it was, like, only his head and shoulders. "Trying to find you," he replied, calmly. "Now where are you?" "Somewhere over the rainbow," I answered sarcastically. He facepalmed. "I don't have time for this, Cassie. Where are you?" "Earth." "More specific." "North America." "Even more." "The United States of America." "You're really starting to get on my nerves." "Back atcha." I smirked. He grumbled something. "So how are you doing this, anyway?" I asked, gesturing to his floating upper half. "If you tell me where you are, I'll tell you." Can't blame a girl for trying. "Sooo not worth it. Oh, look at the time, I'll have to be going now-" "Cassie!" he practically screamed. I ran out of the girls bathroom. I walked nonchalantly when people were in sight. I looked at the clock again. 7:27. Ugh. I hate waiting. I spent the three minutes looking at my fellow busers. Bus Intruder, a young couple, and another family. But this time, it was a middle aged couple with a daughter who looked old enough to be a senior in High School, and a (hot) son about my age. Let's just say I spent more time surveying the family then the rest. One member of the family in particular. Hey, don't blame me! It's my teenage girl-horomones. The train pulled up. We all loaded on, me going last. The family sat in back, the young couple halfway, Bus Intruder near the front. I sat one row behind the young couple, on the opposite side. I popped in my earbuds again, knowing there was no hope of me doing anything worth while on this trip. I stared out the window, at the surprisingly nice-looking scenery. After about an hour, I yawned, feeling my eyes start to droop again. I figured we were getting close. Behind my music, I could hear the couple in front talking, and behind me the older couple was talking. I could faintly hear the sounds of a gun shots- probably the son's game, and nothing from the girl.... or from Bus Intruder. I had almost forgotten about the good ol' creeper. I probably shouldn't do that, though. Because once you forget about him, BAM! He's rapin' everybody out here! Oh, there I go again. Dreadfully sorry. Anyways... Oh, shoot, now it's stuck in my head. I yawned again, trying to think of something else to push it out. It was to no avail. I just leaned my head back, and relaxed, letting my mind wander... though it mostly stayed near the Bed Intruder song. My eyes slowly started to droop, once again. I let myself sleep. Chapter Ten: Trianges are Okay, but I Prefer Squares My eyes fluttered open as the bright mid-morning sun shone in. I swore I could hear a bird sing from outside the bus. The sky was bright blue, and it was going to be a beautiful day. Screw it all. I yawned, still tired. I looked around the train to see that no one had moved. Wait, scratch that. Bus Intruder moved..... closer to me. Of course. I still couldn't see his face, unfortunately. Wait... what if he was hot? Dang, I would have been making fun of a hot guy for a whole day. Dude, if he was hot, then I'd have two totally hot guys on the bus. Epic. Win. Okay, I needed to focus. How many stops did I have left on these stupid buses? Three, I think. Right? I checked my ticket; Pierre, South Dakota to Casper, Wyoming. So, basically, yeah. Three stops left on these pee-mobiles! Heck yes, beyotches! My stomach rumbled, ruining my celebration. I sighed quietly, and rubbed my tummy. I reached into my bag and snagged a granola bar. I ate it gratefully, since I was starving. At least I wasn't sleep-deprived. Pffft, that's a laugh. Me ever being sleep-deprived. I mean, I'm always tired, but never exhausted. I'm always hungry too... Jeez, I have issues. I looked around the train again, and locked eyes with the hot son. He had sleek black hair and green-blue eyes, and very tan skin. Oh, and his lips were very nice. So very nice....... I snapped out of it when he smiled at me. I looked down, shyly (how out of character!) and looked back up and smiled. His older sister looked at him like "WTF" then turned to look at me and looked back. She, and not so nonchalantly, elbowed him in the side and mouthed "she's pretty." I just smiled and looked down again. I heard the sound of skin hitting skin, presumabely hottie bro hitting the sister. I wonder what his name is........ Aaron? No. Carl? Hell no. Raymundo? Sure, why not. When I looked back up, Raymundo was looking at me. I have no idea what his parents were doing, but they sure didn't notice him constantly staring at me. But you know who did? (Other than that weird sister!) Bus Intruder. That creepy fothermucker was totally checking out me checking out him and him checking out me and vice versa and versa vice. Okay, apparently a granola bar is giving me a sugar rush. Hellz. Yeah. Okay, calm. Soooo now there's at least one hot guy staring at you right now. Play it cool. Pffft, who am I kidding? I'm as cool as a freaking ball of fire in a sauna in a volcano on the sun. I just smiled to myself and switched songs on my iPod. Way to go, Cassie! Hard to get always works. I think. Apparently it did, because about two minutes later I heard a puff of air as somone sat on the seat across from me. Raymundo, I freaking love you. I paused my song, and popped out my headphones, and smiled hello. "Hey," he said, in a surprsingly deep voice. Someone obviously went through puberty. "Hi," I said, sounding more confident then I actually was. "I'm Cassie." "Nice to meet you, Cassie," he said, extending a hand through the aisle. "I'm Lucian. Lucian Grey." "Aw, nice to meet you too. I like your name, Lucian Grey," I said, savoring his name on my tounge. Lucian Grey. Hm... Cassie Grey. I liked it! I liked him. He laughed, a deep rich sound. "Thanks. I just came over here to first, meet you. Second, tell you that I think you're very pretty, and third, to give you my number," he said, slipping me a sheet of paper. "It was nice meeting you, Cassie." He stood with a wink and walked back towards his sister. I sat there, mouth agape............. What the hell just happened? I shook off the shock and flipped open the sheet of paper. It had his name, his number and a cute little heart. Dayum, I like this guy. Too bad I didn't have a phone to text him constantly with. Bus Intruder stared at me, then when he noticed me looking, he burned holes in the back of Lucian's seat. I love love triangles. Chapter Eleven: I Put the Good in Goodbye! Let's just say that the next half hour or so was a mix between the most romantic and most awkward of my life. Yeah, exciting, right? Totally. Lucian and I shared flirty glances. Bus Intruder glared at us sharing flirty glances. Lucian's sister was proud of Lucian and I sharing flirty glances while Bus Intruder glared. Gee, what an exciting day! But, of course, every good thing has to end sometime. Which is when the stop came to an end and it was Lucian and I's goodbye. And yes, I grew a pair and actually said goodbye. When his parents were talking with the sister, I saw my chance and poked Lucian on the shoulder. He turned, and his face blossomed with a smile. "Cassie, hi. Or should I say goodbye?" I smiled. "Either way, it wouldn't be the last time we talk. I, unfortuantely, don't have a cellphone... but I'll call you later, 'kay?" He grinned a lopsided, boyish grin. Adorable! "That sounds amazing. I'll be looking forward to talking to you again." He gave me a small wave as he walked back to his parents. I'd call him later fo sho. Any girl who wouldn't would be insane. Because, in case you didn't notice, he is smoking hot. Meeeee-ow. And as soon as the Greys were gone, I was standing alone at the bus stop. And of course I can't be left standing alone. Of course not. Cue Bus Intruder, stage left! He walked up casually, like he wasn't even going to talk to me. But, of course, things aren't always as they seem. Meaning, Bus Intruder actually did come close enough to talk. But he didn't. What a creeper! Except if he's hot. Then it's just slightly weird, and I can look past it. Oh, gawd, I hope he's hot. You know, I wonder what he looks like. I really do... I turned, and caught Bus Intruder off guard. He took a step backward, apprehensively. I couldn't see his face, but I could tell he was trying to read my expression. I just smiled casually back. "Hi. I noticed that we've been riding the same buses. I'm Cassie." Hell yeah, I'm good! ﻿ Category:Nico Category:Drama Category:Adventure Category:Rebc29 Category:Romance Category:Humor Category:PG-13 Rated Story